Versailles, Provence, Florence and Pisa!
During the rest of the first week with my parents, I visited Versailles, Provence, Florence and Pisa. Versailles was very impressive! I could not believe how big the place was, especially the gardens. It seemed like we had to walk a mile to get one third of the way through the gardens to get to the queens retreat home. The inside was impressive too, however it was hard to see what each room was meant for since most of the furniture was no longer in the rooms, and the castle was soooo crowded.. you could barely move from room to room!
In Provence, we stayed in Avignon which was a really cute walled town. Although we did not spend a ton of time actually looking around Avignon, I found it to be a very pleasant town, with very nice people who were happy to help you with your problems! The one day we were in Provence, we decided to rent a car to get to the sites we planned to see. This turned out to be a big fiasco! First, my dad went to get the rental car, and he could not figure out for the life of him how to get back to the hotel to get my mom and me. Finally, after two hours of us waiting, he made his way through the windy streets and found us! Having the car that day was frustrating, but very fun at the same time. It allowed us to get to different places easily, however we couldn’t really read the French signs, so it was a challenge at the same time. That day we visited the Pont-du-Gard, an old Roman Coliseum in Arles (the town Vincent Van Gogh used to live in), and we went to Les Beux rock top castle. The Pont-du-Gard was enjoyable to see because it is one of those sites you see in history books when you are young, and finally make it to when you are older. It was a huge structure, and had a very beautiful landscape. Many people were swimming in the river below the aqueduct, making me wish I had my suit to join them! The coliseum in Arles was a little disappointing. They had modernized it to make it friendlier to the public these days, so that it can be safely used for entertainment now. In my opinion, this kind of ruined the feel of the place, making it less special. Les Beux Rocktop castle was very fun to see! It was this old fort/ castle built on top of a mountain many many years ago. Most of it was in ruins; however the town below was still being used for tourists and the hilltop castle provided great views of the French countryside. After visiting these three sites, we stopped for dinner on our way back to Avignon in a small town. This turned out to be a very good dinner, however the lack of English still frustrated me. I guess I need to get over that! When we got back, we realized we needed to get gas before we turned in our car to the rental the next morning. My dad was getting very frustrated with the lack of gas stations. And to make it worse, when we got to the gas stations, we could not use our credit card because it did not have some special chip in it- we needed to find a station we could pay for in cash. We finally asked a French couple for help, however the language barrier once again became a problem. Fortunately, this couple was very friendly, and I was able to use what little French I know to figure out what gas station we would be able to pay cash at. In the end, after much frustration, we ended up filling the gas the next morning before hopping on the train to Florence.
Florence was amazing! I was expecting it to be a big city, but it ended up being a pretty small town. I loved the festive atmosphere of the place, all of the vendors, and the historic feel to the town. Our hotel, la Residencia Giotto was by far our best accommodations yet. It was located right next to Brunelleschi’s Duomo in Florence, giving us great views from our window and from the balcony which we ate breakfast at. The workers there were also very friendly, giving us good advice on what to do and see, and catering to our every need. We went to the Uffizi gallery, which houses a lot of older, religious works- many of which I studied in art history class. It was really neat to see these paintings in real life! We walked around and shopped a lot- and although I didn’t buy anything, I know I will be back with my class so I might have to pick something up then!
During my final day with my parents before heading to Genoa, we stopped by Pisa and Monterosso. I have heard Pisa was a tourist trap, and it was, however I really liked it! It was interesting to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, since I have heard so much about it my whole life, and it (along with the buildings around it) was beautiful! On the way from Pisa to Genoa, we stopped in Monterosso, which is one of the Cinque Terre towns. We thought there would be a place to store our luggage here, but there was not, so I waited with the luggage while my parents looked around, since I thought I would be coming back at some time during the next 4 months.
Finally I am headed for Genoa!!
(sorry for the long post, I just had to get it all out)
During the rest of the first week with my parents, I visited Versailles, Provence, Florence and Pisa. Versailles was very impressive! I could not believe how big the place was, especially the gardens. It seemed like we had to walk a mile to get one third of the way through the gardens to get to the queens retreat home. The inside was impressive too, however it was hard to see what each room was meant for since most of the furniture was no longer in the rooms, and the castle was soooo crowded.. you could barely move from room to room!
In Provence, we stayed in Avignon which was a really cute walled town. Although we did not spend a ton of time actually looking around Avignon, I found it to be a very pleasant town, with very nice people who were happy to help you with your problems! The one day we were in Provence, we decided to rent a car to get to the sites we planned to see. This turned out to be a big fiasco! First, my dad went to get the rental car, and he could not figure out for the life of him how to get back to the hotel to get my mom and me. Finally, after two hours of us waiting, he made his way through the windy streets and found us! Having the car that day was frustrating, but very fun at the same time. It allowed us to get to different places easily, however we couldn’t really read the French signs, so it was a challenge at the same time. That day we visited the Pont-du-Gard, an old Roman Coliseum in Arles (the town Vincent Van Gogh used to live in), and we went to Les Beux rock top castle. The Pont-du-Gard was enjoyable to see because it is one of those sites you see in history books when you are young, and finally make it to when you are older. It was a huge structure, and had a very beautiful landscape. Many people were swimming in the river below the aqueduct, making me wish I had my suit to join them! The coliseum in Arles was a little disappointing. They had modernized it to make it friendlier to the public these days, so that it can be safely used for entertainment now. In my opinion, this kind of ruined the feel of the place, making it less special. Les Beux Rocktop castle was very fun to see! It was this old fort/ castle built on top of a mountain many many years ago. Most of it was in ruins; however the town below was still being used for tourists and the hilltop castle provided great views of the French countryside. After visiting these three sites, we stopped for dinner on our way back to Avignon in a small town. This turned out to be a very good dinner, however the lack of English still frustrated me. I guess I need to get over that! When we got back, we realized we needed to get gas before we turned in our car to the rental the next morning. My dad was getting very frustrated with the lack of gas stations. And to make it worse, when we got to the gas stations, we could not use our credit card because it did not have some special chip in it- we needed to find a station we could pay for in cash. We finally asked a French couple for help, however the language barrier once again became a problem. Fortunately, this couple was very friendly, and I was able to use what little French I know to figure out what gas station we would be able to pay cash at. In the end, after much frustration, we ended up filling the gas the next morning before hopping on the train to Florence.
Florence was amazing! I was expecting it to be a big city, but it ended up being a pretty small town. I loved the festive atmosphere of the place, all of the vendors, and the historic feel to the town. Our hotel, la Residencia Giotto was by far our best accommodations yet. It was located right next to Brunelleschi’s Duomo in Florence, giving us great views from our window and from the balcony which we ate breakfast at. The workers there were also very friendly, giving us good advice on what to do and see, and catering to our every need. We went to the Uffizi gallery, which houses a lot of older, religious works- many of which I studied in art history class. It was really neat to see these paintings in real life! We walked around and shopped a lot- and although I didn’t buy anything, I know I will be back with my class so I might have to pick something up then!
During my final day with my parents before heading to Genoa, we stopped by Pisa and Monterosso. I have heard Pisa was a tourist trap, and it was, however I really liked it! It was interesting to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, since I have heard so much about it my whole life, and it (along with the buildings around it) was beautiful! On the way from Pisa to Genoa, we stopped in Monterosso, which is one of the Cinque Terre towns. We thought there would be a place to store our luggage here, but there was not, so I waited with the luggage while my parents looked around, since I thought I would be coming back at some time during the next 4 months.
Finally I am headed for Genoa!!
(sorry for the long post, I just had to get it all out)
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